"One day, we're going to look back at Rob Gronkowski and
wonder what he could have been."

Those words were delivered to me by a
friend in the days before we learned a fourth procedure on Gronkowski's
left forearm was forthcoming ... and that he may need an operation to repair a disc
in his back.

I shrugged the thought off at the time, choosing instead to
believe the first three operations performed on the New England Patriots tight end's forearm were the result of freak accidents and bad luck. I felt the same way about the ankle surgery he had following the 2011 season, because, well, Bernard Pollard
happened.

But my friend's words are now haunting my thoughts. Twelve months
ago, Gronkowski appeared destined to end up in the Hall of Fame as the greatest
tight end of all time. Now, he doesn't have enough healthy parts to push himself off the operating table.

It's recently become popular to revise history and point out Gronkowski entered the NFL with injury concerns after a bad disc wiped out his junior season at Arizona, but no one had anything to say about his health when the Patriots signed him to a six-year, $54 million extension last summer. Such talk would have been dismissed as foolish.

Gronkowski was a model of consistency and durability during his first two years in the league. He never missed a practice in 2010 and redefined excellence at his position in 2011 by racking up 1,327 receiving yards and scoring 17 touchdowns.

In fact, people said New England got a bargain. Now those same folks are wondering if he will one day be accused of larceny.

But that kind of talk needs to be put on pause. It's too
soon to whip out labels or dispatch the "30 for 30" crew to document Gronk's cautionary tale. No one knows what happens next.

Maybe this ends up being a story of perseverance Gronkowski
references during his Hall of Fame speech. Maybe he flames out in a few years. Maybe he shines bright for a few games every season before suffering another injury.

Whatever the case, it's important to remember that
the adjectives "routine" and "minor" were used to describe Gronkowski's original
forearm surgery, and those same terms are being used in conjunction with
his back issue, which involves a different disc than his 2009 injury.

Those words, of course, ring hollow
considering all the issues that have arisen from Gronkowski's original forearm
injury, but everything that has occurred since has more to do with bad
luck than brittle bones or bad tissue – or whatever other terms people are
tossing around.

Still, four (possibly five) surgeries in less than a year
is a lot for anyone to endure. So maybe all the injuries will
force the once-Herculean figure to stand even with the linebackers and safeties he so often abuses.

But maybe they won't. Maybe Gronkowski steps around this and
continues on as the Gronkowski we know and love. After all the things we've seen him do on Sundays, doubting his ability to run through another obstacle seems premature.